Comics for December 15

[dvandom]

                    Dave's Unspoilt Capsules and Awards
         The Week's Picks and Pans, plus Awards of Dubious Merit

Standard Disclaimers: Please set appropriate followups.  Recommendation does
not factor in price.  Not all books will have arrived in your area this week.
It's Finals week, but I don't have any!  Rants, Capsules can be found on my 
             homepage, http://www.eyrie.org/~dvandom/Rants 

First Looks:
     Every so often, I will take my PDA and its folding keyboard down to the
comic shop on the weekend and type up reviews of the stuff I read out of the
First Looks pile.  Books I end up buying will be moved down to the Capsules
section on Wednesdays.  If I don't give it a recommendation, I'm probably not
buying it. 

     Ocean #3 (of 6): DC - A bit talky, but things are happening in a nicely
creepy syberpunky way.  I'm almost definitely going to be picking up the TPB
of this, but will continue to pass on the individual issues.  $2.95/$4.50Cn
     Justice League Elite #6: DC - Kelly's nonlinear storytelling isn't as
incoherent this time out, although the "Was any of my crew actually working
for me?" lament does seem appropriate here.  A bit too much wheels within
wheels at times.  A decent tale, with some good quips.  $2.50/$3.85Cn

Capsules:
     Short, relatively spoiler-free reviews of books I actually bring home
(as opposed to reading in preview form in the shop or online).  If I get a
book late due to distributor foulups or whatever, I'll put it in the Missing
section.

     Marvel Team-Up #3: Marvel - Dr. Strange and the FF are teaming up this
time out, so Kirkman's clearly not out to make this an extra Spider-Man title
like the previous incarnation ended up being.  This issue's kinda
transitional in nature, and does seem to be treading old ground from eXiles,
but it's a decent read.  Recommended. $2.25/$3.25Cn
     Spider-Man India #2: Marvel - The story starts to diverge more from just
being a rechroming of the Amazing Fantasy #15 origin, which is a good thing.
It's a good, if rushed, basic Spider-Man type of story.  Recommended.
$2.99/$4.25Cn 
     Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes #3 (of 8): Marvel - I continue to
enjoy how Casey is filling in gaps and adding depth to the established
characterization without really contradicting it (as so many redactors are
tempted to do).  Especially good tour of monuments for Captain America.
Recommended.  $3.50/$5.00Cn 
     eXiles #56: Marvel - Very much a middle of the story sort of issue, with
plenty of skullduggery and doublecrossing, but not so much that it's hard to
follow.  I generally liked Calafiore's art, except on one or two characters.
Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Madrox #4: Marvel - Speaking of skullduggery and doublecrossing....  I'm
still wondering if the two plot threads will dovetail more completely next
issue.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Fantastic Four #521: Marvel - Not as freaky as last issue, but it
centers nicely on playing characters against type, as well as on exploration
of interesting powers and abilities.  Recommended.  $2.99/$4.25Cn
     Ninja High School #122: Antarctic Press - The cover doesn't really make
sense, it feels like it would be more appropriate if the issue was mostly
about the relationship between those who are ON the cover, rather than the
other Big Dance.  And now a brief break to editorialize.  :) I tend to
dislike romantic comedies in serialized form when they drag out the tension
too long.  Sure, there's a lot more comedic possibilities in the "will
they/won't they" teasing, but it gets old, especially if it's too much the
focus of the story.  Often, ending the tension is either the point of the end
of the series (i.e. Rumiko Takahashi's works tend to end on romantic
resolutions, in my limited experience), or lead to the death of the series
(i.e. Moonlighting).  But in an ensemble cast, there's no reason to worry
about this...you can LET a couple admit their feelings and stop dancing
around each other, since there's always more romantic tension to be found in
other cast members.  And now, having put more words into this aside than
almost all the other reviews today, I come back to the point.  Bevard and
Bair appear to be bringing at least one of their long-running (22 issues so
far) romantic tension plots to a resolution.  It doesn't happen yet, and
we're clearly getting a distraction plot to delay it a bit, but both
characters involved come to decisions this issue that should lead to ending
their dance.  Yay!  And there's two or three other dances going on to keep
the creators supplied with romantic tension humor afterward (it'd be a
mistake to resolve ALL of them at once, unless they plan to leave the book).
Plus, there's the usual good gags (most of which should be accessible even to
new readers) and a good use of stasis.  Strongly recommended.  $2.99/$4.05Cn

Gone Missing:
     Stuff that came out some places this week and that I wanted to buy, but
couldn't find for whatever reason, so people don't have to email me asking
"Why didn't you review X?"  (If it's neither here nor in the section above,
though, feel free to ask, I might have forgotten about it!)

     Current list as of 12/15:

     Savage Henry Puppet Trap, Savage Henry Powerchords #2-3, Flare #2.  Add
Serenity Rose #5 (didn't ship) and OHOTMU Golden Age (all copies shipped to
my store were missing the middle HALF).

     The OHOTMU was pretty good, the half I was able to read, and the info
in the appendix was very useful.  I'd recommend getting it if you can find a
complete copy.

Awards:

Best Book: Ninja High School #122

"The Man In The Iron Mask" Award to Marvel Team-Up #3

"A Bit Of A Sticky Wicket" Award to Spider-Man India #2

"Okay, So It Took Me Three Issues To Realize That If You Lay All Eight
     Covers Side By Side It Spells 'Avengers'" Award to Avengers: Earth's
     Mightiest Heroes #3 (of 8)

"Wait, Where'd The Extra Spidey From The Cover Come From?" Award to eXiles 
     #56

"Replicative Fading" Award to Madrox #4

"Galactus Is Inordinately Fond Of Beetles...For Lunch" Award to FF #521

"Grabasstastic!" Award to Ninja High School #122

   Dave Van Domelen, "For as long as it takes to read every name on this wall. For as long as it takes for me to acknowledge *every soldier* that died...in a war that I missed." - Captain America at the Vietnam War Memorial, Earth's Mightiest Heroes #3